Mechanical features, often referred to as "pop-up" features, are ubiquitous in books intended for young children who have not yet learned to read or who read at a very preliminary level. Sophisticated mechanical features are often used in books for older children to provide mechanical animation to the story. Typically speaking, the more sophisticated pop-up features are more intricate and, therefore, more delicate than those intended for the often abusive hands of infants and young children.
Along these lines, pop-up features in books for young children need to be substantially durable so as to withstand rough treatment from the children. A challenge for the producers of children's books is to develop pop-up features which are sufficiently durable to endure abuse yet sophisticated enough to retain the interest of the reader. Books which are able to incorporate pop-up features which meet these criteria enjoy popularity and success in the marketplace. Examples of such popular and successful books are produced by The Hunt Group and Intervisual Books, Inc., of Santa Monica, Calif., with one example being U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,098 granted Dec. 3, 1996.
In order to maintain a market share, producers need to develop new and different mechanical features constantly. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art of paper engineering and children's books for mechanical or pop-up features which are both durable and interesting.